Letters to the Editor: July 29, 2015

Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section. The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to jchancellor@okgazette.com or sent online at okgazette.com. Include a city of residence and contact number for verification.

No-win situations

Referencing John Thompsons commentary (News, Commentary, There is no cheap or easy fix, July 8, OklahomaGazette): He talks a lot about a team but fails to name names.

The team is owned, operated, managed and coached by parents. No amount of money can make up for bad parenting or bad parents. If your kid(s) fail, it is you  the parent  who has failed.

I say this as a retired teacher who said, To hell with it! after I was physically assaulted in an OKCPS school. I reported the assault to my principal and to Oklahomas safe schools hotline.

When nothing happened, I knew I was gone. My wife and I had just enough money for me to quit. Most of the other teachers with whom I shared a lunch break with considered themselves to be stuckers and suckers. The geezers like me felt stuck in a job with no other options being seen. The 20-something teachers felt like suckers who had probably had the best of intentions, only to find themselves in a deadly, dead-end career.

The leaving rates of new teachers prove my point.

 Richard F. Hicks

Oklahoma City

Home run

The article in the Gazette (Life, Film, Cover Story, Driving home, July 1, Gazette) was an outstanding and grade A+ work by Brett Dickerson.

He kept consistent and engaged with his effort. He was friendly and professional with my staff and patrons. He was there several times, capturing the best photos and interviews. I am so proud of the article and Bretts abilities to capture the drive-in atmosphere in the article. The front cover was perfect, too!

Thank you again for giving this Oklahoma City icon a nice endorsement and entertaining article for the entire city to see and fall in love with once again.

 Lindy Shanbour

owner, Winchester Drive-In

Oklahoma City

No shelter

Unlike John Harris (News, Commentary, Letters, Mansion meanies, May 20, Gazette), I applaud the Gazette for taking a shot at the six-month renovation of the governors mansion.

For five years, Fallin has asked Oklahomans to sacrifice because we cant afford to invest in the health care of our people and education, with another cut in per-student funding on top of leading the nation in cuts for a decade. Superintendent Rob Neu says flat funding next year will cost Oklahoma City Public Schools $2.8 million.

Homeowners and cities are being besieged with floods, tornadoes and earthquakes induced by injection wells, but Fallin wants a blank check (officials refuse to disclose the costs) to make her more comfy.

More troubling is that officials are considering adding a storm shelter to the mansion. Fallin did everything in her power to stop the public from voting on a bond issue to fund storm shelters for schoolchildren. If a tornado warning is issued, the governor and legislators should be rushed to the nearest elementary school without a storm shelter; if teachers can cover the bodies of terrified kids, so can they.